Voice of Joel Discusses His Character in The Last of Us, “Gonna Turn the Model of the Hero on its Ass”

February 27, 2012 Written by Alex Osborn

Troy Baker, the voice actor for Joel in Naughty Dog’s upcoming action adventure game The Last of Us recently shed some light on his character, noting that this protagonist is far from what you might expect in a video game hero.

In an interview with OPM UK, Baker – the voice actor for other notable characters including Final Fantasy XIII’s Snow and BioShock Infinite’s Booker – gave us a taste of what to expect from Joel in The Last of Us, claiming that this new character will flip the idea of what it means to be a video game hero on its head.

He’s not a hero, he’s not a badass.

He’s a guy that learned how to use a gun because he had to, and he’s fighting every day because that’s what you do. Does that mean that [he] steals this, that [he] does this? Maybe. But it’s not that he has a plan, or that he’s a strong archetypal character.